Bouland

Truffles filled with a ganache made partly with fromage blanc as shown here are actually quite nice.

This looks like a reprinting of the early book by the same name, which was a re-hashing of Entertaining in the French Style.

Gastromie Pratique by Ali-Bab (Henri Babinski), first published in 1907 — 5th edition from 1928 recently republished in facsimile. Still timely. Cuisine en famile by Bernard Loiseau. A good cross-section of French recipes — all very doable.

After eating avocados like other fruit — raw, out of hand — my favorite way is as a warm soup called velouté d'avocat. It's very quick to make and lucious to eat.

Ah hah! It seems that chefs and cooks in the U.S., and a few in France, are stretching the definition of confit farther and farther all the time. I'm used to a pile of slow cooked onions to be referred to as a fondant, as in melted, such as in this recipe. The process of confitting implies cooking the material in fat as part of a preservation process, not just a means of preparating a dish. Afterall, traditional confits of meats are stored in the fat and then reheated for serving. I think it is inappropriate to apply to term to just any slow cooked dish. (Not that you were, but a lot of chefs are doing that.)

I'm familiar with how to confit garlic, but not onons and tomatoes. Please explain.

In my experience, graines de paradis have a taste similar to white pepper. Another name for the spice is maniguette. Here's a recipe for an ice cream that uses the spice for flavoring.

I've eaten there a number of times and the food is quite good. They serve a great kidney dish that quite good. Ask the Chef's wife, I think her name is Christine, for a local wine recommendation. They have some fantastic red Anjous in the 25 euro range that are reminiscent of velvet.

I've got about 30 years on this board. I've cut everything imagineable on it. I clean it with just hot water and a brush. To my knowledge, no one has ever gotten sick from my board.

I store items in the frig more for convenience rather than preservation. That's usually where there is shelf space in my house. those things that always go in the refrigerator are - beer - milk - water (I like it chilled for drinking. I don't use ice.) - miso - coffee (I go though about a pound a week) - nut oils - eggs (because there's a convenient place to put them)

If these dogs are in natural casings, the thinner ones are probably sheep casings and the thicker ones are hog casings. That being said, I've never done a taste test between different size and source casings.

I like the interesting and varigated patina of oxidized copper. It's much more interesting than polished copper.

The critical word in my post was pots. Mine are Mauviel and they're not a problem. I do have some of the sauté pans — which is what I assume you are referring to — and when I use one, if anything sticks to the surface I just put the pan back on a hot burner and deglaze it with some tap water. The burned-on crud comes right off. Why bother with the outside. They cook the same way whether there's a little copper oxide or a bunch. It's still just a couple of molecules thick and doesn't effect the heat transfer.

I guess I'm missing something by not having Calphalon or All-Clad! All my pots are stainless-lined heavy gauge copper — yes with iron handles — and the most I usually need to clean them, in addition to hot water, is a nylon or natural bristle brush. The scotch-brite is only very rarely used.

I spent a week with Patrick last October. I like his cooking, and the hotel is very comfortable. As you are probably aware, he now has two stars. He's received a lot of coverage in the French press this summer, so I suspect the crowds may finally be finding their way to Carantec. Patrick is very creative, and like a lot of creative people, not everything he tries is a success. But enough things are to make a visit to his restaurant a rewarding experience. Due to his location and his relationships with the local fisherman, it not uncommon to see him buzz out for a few minutes late in the afternoon to pick-up some fish that someone just caught, and to see the same fish being served for dinner that night. Although I think his seafood is the best thing to order their normally, one of his specialties is a terrine de Roquefort that can be had as an alternative to a standard cheese course. He taught me how to make the dish and do so at home nowadays.

I had a pleasant meal there last October. The art nouveau style of the restaurant is almost more fun then the food.

Nuts can easily be ground at home with an inexpensive nut grinder, like this one from Zyliss. I use mine for all kinds of nuts and there isn't the worry of extruding the oils and making a nut butter as there is with a food processor. The consistancy is very similar to the ground nuts I work with in France, but coarser that the nut flours sold in the US, which are made from dried nuts. The ground nuts have worked fine in all recipes I've used them in, such as a pain de gênes, a genoise made of nuts.

I guess California has a few advantages... I can buy it at a half a dozen stores near my home.

I've generally avoided cooked or clotted blood in favor of fresh blood, which I use in my civets. In my case the blood is whisked into the sauce at the end of cooking off the heat. This has the effect of giving the sauce a dark mahogany color, a slight thickening, and a much richer flavor. Yum.

Shichimi togarashi is "7-spice" whereas ichimi togarashi is "1-spice". They are two different types of togarashi. They have diferent ingredients although chili pepper is common in both. My experience is that when a recipe just says togarashi, ichimi is called for.

When I stayed there a few years back, the cheap, unadvertised rooms were quite nice, but only about half the price of the cheapest one listed in Relais & Chateaux. I have generally found that if I contact a R&C hotel directly, I can get a cheaper room than through the system.

Going back a bit further in time than the 1960s, you'll find other items used for thickening sauces and soups in French cooking. The two that immediately come to mind are rice and bread. The rice is cooked in some stock until it falls apart and is then puréed for use. The bread is usually used in the form of bread crumbs. I'm currently working on translating and testing a series of recipes from 1907 and besides the two items just mentioned, flour is certainly used for thickening, but it is always cooked in fat for use.

Of course there's been hundreds written and I've only cooked from just a few, but the ones I like the best are... Larousse Gastronomic under the direction of Joël Robuchon. This is 2000 edition (copyright 1997) not the earlier version. The English version is not a faithful, or at times accurate, translation — the French original is far superior — and twice the price! Cuisine en Famille by Bernard Loiseau. Lots of family recipes slightly altered by this Michelin 3-star chef. The recipes work as described. Gastronomie Pratique by Ali-Bab. Reflect on the comments I entered above... Le Meilleur & Le Plus Simple de la Pomme de Terre by Joël Robuchon. Although this book only has potato recipes, it's still a very nice collection with good commentary. The recipes are more down to earth than some of Robuchon's other books. There are a lot more, but these were the first four to come to mind. Also, don't forget about French-language cooking magazines. They have lots a great recipes an most are priced about half the cost of U.S. cooking magazines. Some that I cook from regularly are: Cuisine Actuelle, Cuisine et Vins de France, ELLE à Table, Guide Cuisine, and Cuisine Gourmande & Vins.

I don't think Jaques Pepin has published a French cookbook, has he? Le Technique and Le Methode seem to be applicable to most Western cuisines, not just French. I have not seen the new combo version, but I've always wished that the originals were in color with better printing. Jacques Pepin is my favorite TV chef — I love watching him work — I like watching his hands. Other technique books that come to mind are Anne Willan's and the one put out by the Cordon Bleu Cooking School. Both have their good points, but I have to admit, I've learned most of my technique first hand in kitchens. (In March of 2001 I worked in three different Michelin-starred restaurant kitchens and each had their own way of shucking scallops — and each had reasons why their method way best. I learned a fourth in the fall at a different restaurant.)

As someone who is very heavy into French food — see my web site if you want to see how heavy — I can not honestly recommend any of the books listed above. Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a landmark and was a watershed when it was published 40 years ago. It taught Americans how to cook French-style food using commonly available American ingredients has has lots of basic instruction — which it sounds like you don't need. Now that most French-specific ingredients are available in the U.S., making do with what was available in 1961 is of less importance. La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon is a recent British translation of his 1990 Les Dimanches de Joël Robuchon, which is a collection of magazine articles written by Robuchon over the period of a year. The translation has many errors in both technique description and ingredients. The book has relatively few recipes, two or three per chapter. If you'd like a English-language version of one of Robuchon's books, I'd recommend the Patricia Wells translation and adaption of his Simply French. But be warned, this is not a book of simple recipes, many are very complicated and use expensive ingredients. Also, in many, she has modified the recipe to such a point that the recipe no longer matches the picture. Wells' Bisto Cooking suffers from much of the same problems. The recipes presented in the book don't acurately reflect the original dishes. Ali-Bab's Encyclopedia of Practical Gastronomy is a 1974, 374-page translation of a 1281-page masterpiece — Gastronomie Pratique — written in 1907 (or 1912 depending on the historian) by Henri babinsky. It had almost 20 editions published up to 1950. A facsimile of the 5th edition (1928) was published last year. The original work is a fascinating read, if you read French. It is highly detailed and rather complete. The publisher claims 5000 recipes, which would include every variation listed. I haven't counted them, but there are lot there. However, it's not the place to start a journey in to French cooking. Bocuse's La Cuisine de Marché was translted into English as Paul Bocuse's French Cooking. It's a faithful, almost literal translation of the original. (It amazing how many of the the recipes in the original are almost word-for-word copies of Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire from 1921.) This is an advanced book, not one to start off with. I find Olney's books are dated and somewhat eccentric, even for when they were published originally. But not to be totally negative...a few that I'd recommend: French Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Hermann Loomis. A broad range of recipes from both home cooks and Michelin-starred chefs. Every recipe I've tried has worked out-of -the-box. Bisto by Gerald Hirigoyen. This thin book has most of the essential bistro dishes. The recipes are well presented and all are illustrated. It's a great first book of French food. Parisian Home Cooking by Michael Roberts. Just like the title says... Paris Bistro Cooking by Linda Dannenberg. A well written book of recipes from a variety of Paris bistros and restaurants. Another book where the recipes work. If you read French, then there are many others that I can recommend.